Playing Catch-Up

As much as the past few weeks have been difficult, they have also been busy (in a good way). The day of Rob's death, Bryce had his 8th Grade Recognition Ceremony and came home with six or seven certificates. I had planned to leave the little boys home with Daddy, but since he departed immediately to be with his family once we heard the news, it meant the boys had to sit through the hour and a half ceremony with me. Ha!

They actually did amazingly well. I brought along an activity book for Trevor (who was content to do dot-to-dots for at least a half hour) and a Thomas the Tank Engine coloring book (the kind where you merely press a stick against the page and color appears - what a great concept) for Sean.

Trevor has recently developed quite an appreciation for pretty girls. When we are out and about, he will point out a girl and say "when I grow up and have a girlfriend, that's what I want her to look like" (sometimes more loudly than we'd like). So, I was highly amused when one pretty classmate of Bryce's walked forward to get her certificate and Trevor tried to whistle. Hee-hee!

Then, the faculty announced some special prize and declared the individual to be a "winner." Sean turned to me, momentarily stirred from his distracted reverie, and said "Did he just say 'We have a wiener?????'" Trevor didn't hear it, but I had a hard time silencing his questions as to why Mommy was doubled over in laughter.

Trevor also had his own special moment of fame, when he attended his preschool graduation. After several songs, the teacher invited each student to come to the microphone and state their name and what they want to be when they grow up. Most of the kids expressed ambitions to be "a ninja," or "a musketeer," or "a princess," or "a fireman." Trevor walked right up, said his name clearly and declared he wants to be an artist when he grows up. I beamed.

We also have been privileged to see lots of family lately. Of course, we saw all but two cousins for Rob's viewing and memorial. Trevor and Sean thoroughly enjoyed spending time with cousin Tyler and his dog, Cocoa (alias, Coco-Loco).




Then, my youngest brother and family came for a brief visit (on their way to a wedding in Indianapolis). The boys love their visits. First off, they have loads of fun with the kids. Secondly, they almost always get some cool hand-me-downs from their older cousin Caleb.

This time, they brought one of Caleb's outgrown Spiderman costumes (an ultra cool one that is reversible, for the black and the red Spiderman, and has gigantic muscles) and a Spiderman bike helmet with matching elbow and knee pads. The boys both wanted to wear these items to church that Sunday. I think Bryce was mortified that I might actually let them (I tend to be pretty lax about their appearance).

When I "ran away from home" last weekend, I was extremely grateful for the chance to crash (and visit) at my older brother, David's house. I felt guilty because they are in the midst of all the stress of a move (to Peoria), so my unexpected visit was probably less than convenient. But, they spent time with me, listened to my venting, and graciously entertained me during a group trip to Big Lots (a cheap distribution store, where I had the chance to discover that even teens often cannot walk through a store without goofing around like my little boys - hee-hee).

Shortly after I returned home from my brief visit with David's family, my parents arrived for their annual June visit. We had a really nice time. They nurtured my wanderlust with tales of their recent cruise (a first, for them) and my Dad's unexpected treat to my mom of tickets to see Mary Poppins for her birthday.

Apparently, Mary Poppins was AMAZING! They said that Bert walked the walls and danced on the ceiling and Mary Poppins flew right over their heads. They were able to show me some footage of the play from a DVD. Now I am hungry to find a way to take Trevor to see it when it comes to Indianapolis later this year.

This week, Trevor is attending a Galactic Blast VBS at the church where he attended preschool. Wow! What a phenomenal program they have there. We paid a $10 fee and he received a t-shirt and a CD-rom full of songs and games. There are 207 children enrolled (I was worried Trev might be overwhelmed by the vast sea of kids, but he just plowed ahead, found his team row and joined the throngs), with almost 80 volunteers.

When we returned home from VBS, Trevor wanted to try out the CD-rom. The games are clever and fun. One game was a quiz over the information covered in the class today. Trevor actually wanted to play that several times and did quite well at answering the questions correctly.

Thankfully, we're also keeping busy with things like Lunch Bunch (where they get a free sack lunch and a free choice of book every Tuesday), free movies at the cinema and at the library, and playing on their swing set. A bird built a nest up in the fort part of the swing set and the boys have been watching the 3 eggs. Amazingly, the mama birdie has kept her vigil despite the poor choice of housing location.

Today, when John came home with some groceries from Walmart, I overheard him exclaim, "What in the world??"

It turns out, a toad was hopping across the living room floor. I would have suspected that Trevor brought the toad in, but he was at VBS, at the time. We surmise the toad had been in the garage and hopped up the steps into the house while John unloaded groceries.

I guess you could say, life has really been "hoppin'" around here!